I'll Drink To That! Talking Wine With Levi Dalton

Neil Empson is the founder of Empson & Co., an exporter of wines from Italy and other countries.Neil, who was born in New Zealand in 1939, recounts his youthful days driving fast, reselling Ferraris, and meeting with intelligence officers. He talks about meeting his wife Maria, who convinced him to move to Italy and take up the wine business there, founding a company for wine export. And he recalls his first sale of wine to the United States, a Chianti that was sold to Trader Joe's. At that time, back in the early 1970s, Neil recognized the potential for Italian wine sales in the United States. He both exported the first Italian wine labelled Chardonnay to the United States, and coined the term "Super Tuscan".Neil discusses the changes in the market for Italian wine in the United States in the intervening decades since the 1970s. He also talks about his relationships with key Italian wine producers, such as Angelo Gaja (Gaja), Beppe Colla (Prunotto), Elvio Cogno (Marcarini), Sergio Manetti (Montevertine),